DHHS suspends Chinese Gourmet Express after 9 health code violations

by Marissa Papanek

Chinese Gourmet Express is located in the Bayshore Mall in Eureka.

EUREKA, Calif. —

The Chinese Gourmet Express was marked for nine health code violations during an inspection on July 10 by the Humboldt County Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The restaurant has had its permit suspended and is closed until it can show corrections of the violations. The inspection lasted from 10:35 a.m. to 2 p.m., a total of 205 minutes, according to the health inspection report.

Located at 3300 Broadway #604 inside the Bayshore Mall in Eureka, the restaurant is a food court Chinese buffet-style spread. The DHHS found five major violations and four minor violations. Major violations included the fact that the "person in charge demonstrates a lack of knowledge for food safety practice." The DHHS says this needs to be remedied by Sept. 8.

One criteria restaurants have to meet is that food cannot be adulterated; food is considered adulterated if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it impure or injurious to health. Conditions observed included moldy broccoli, rotten green onions and boxes of thawed chicken blood leaking onto walk-in refrigerator floor. Other cut and sliced vegetables were being stored in an ambient air of 52 degrees Farenheit, above the legal temperature. The restaurant is ordered to be compliant by July 13.